Things Not as They Seem
by Tirajm
Summary: When Opal schemes to be freed, Artemis and Holly must stop her plot, despite some changes that might force them apart. And Minerva's personal investigations might not help, either.
1. Experimentation

Notes: This is sort of a sequel to my other Artemis Fowl story, _Of Two Minds_. It's not required reading, but this story will definitely reference plot points from it. Also, that way, you'll know what happened with Orion.

Also, because for some reason people always do this, I don't own Artemis Fowl. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, and I would also be an Irish man instead of an American girl.

* * *

**Education**

School, Minerva Paradizo decided, did not agree with her. She had liked studying from home perfectly well; she could do whatever she wanted without interruption and structure imposed on her. Her father, however, had taken issue with almost this exact same trait. Paradizo had been concerned to discover his daughter was kidnapping demons (a fact which a simple mindwipe had taken care of easily enough), but he was furious to learn that she was dating a twenty-five year old Swiss skiing instructor.

"You are becoming wild!" he had raged at her. "Uncontrolled! You're sixteen, for god's sake; just because you're a genius doesn't mean you know everything."

"Perhaps, but I know more than you do," Minerva had made the fatal mistake of saying, and perhaps because of that, he had set out to find someone that she did not know more than.

He had been imminently successful when he found St. Agatha's Academy for Unusually Gifted Girls. It was not your ordinary all-girls school designed to target problem daughters; every student there was a genius-level intellect. And while Minerva was beyond most of them in pure IQ, she found that many of them had focused on areas that she was far less familiar with. Minerva was bright, but she was not the polymath that Artemis was, and for the second time in her life, she was forced to admit that maybe there were a few people out there who knew more than she did.

It was not an experience she enjoyed.

Also unhelpful was the fact that she had lost her other advantage. St Agatha's fees were exorbitant, and there was no chance of academic scholarships. While there was a subsection of the girls who were on financial scholarships, being rich enough to afford the school meant that Minerva's wealth was no threat. Minerva was forced to face the fact that she wasn't as special as she liked to think she was next to her new schoolmates.

There was just one little thing that set her apart. None of the other girls knew about fairies.

* * *

Magic, Artemis decided, was not quite as useful as one might think.

With his mother Angeline in the know about the People, using the _mesmer_ was only a viable option if he wanted to earn her ire. Healing was possible, as it carried less risk of him getting caught, but Artemis very rarely engaged in any action likely to provoke injury. Any attempt at shielding would drain his entire reserve in ten minutes, and there weren't too many times when he needed it. The gift of tongues was useful, but Artemis was already fluent in five languages, and could carry on a conversation in four more. And he had to hide it completely hidden from any of the People, who would not be happy to learn their old enemy possessed their most important gift.

The problem with keeping secrets from the People was that it also meant keeping secrets from Holly, something that was much harder than he had thought. His conscience prickled almost every time he got a call from her, usually to update him on the Atlantis rebuild. It was an even worse sign than usual – an overabundance of guilt could restart his Atlantis Complex, and he would be back to counting words, hiding from fours, and praying that when he woke up, he would still be the one in control of his body. Getting rid of Orion hadn't been an enjoyable experience, and he would very much prefer that his alter ego not return.

Of course, even he had to admit, there was more to it than sheer pragmatism. He quite simply didn't _like_ lying to Holly. But that didn't mean that every month, on the full moon, he wasn't out at an ancient oak by a bend in the river, burying an acorn to renew his magic.

Generally, the time spent with Holly was supposed to be spent tracking down Opal Koboi. Her past incarnation was still, theoretically, on the loose. But there was no trace of her to be found anywhere, and while Artemis dug for hints of fairy activity, using the same techniques that had been employed to find his original fairy contact, the pair would, to use the term Angeline had, "hung out." Holly had managed to pique Artemis' curiosity with a copy of _The Hills of Taillte_, a semi-fictional account of the famous battle; he had done the same with _The Hobbit_. In between teasing each other about their species' respective literature, they had an even closer relationship than before. Perhaps that was why when Holly asked for the next book, he had given her _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ instead of _The Fellowship of the Rings_. Or why he had decided that knowing how to use a gun might be a useful skill when she'd offered to help him with his aim.

And then one day, everything changed. And not in the cheery, romantic kind of way that involved tender moments and unexpected kisses. More in the kind of way that involved old nemeses and bureaucratic idiocy.

Artemis was shocked to see Holly's face when she arrived at Fowl Manor. It looked as though she had been yelling and crying simultaneously for the last few hours. The reason was out of her mouth before Artemis could even ask her what was wrong. "It's Koboi!" she shouted, the tears still not quite out of her voice. "They've gone and released her!"

Artemis was appalled. "Why in the world would anybody even _think_ to do that?" he exclaimed loudly, with uncharacteristic rage. "Are they complete morons – or has she _mesmerized_ them?" He settled on the second explanation with a sort of relief in an opportunity to maintain his faith in the People.

"Worse," said Foaly bitterly, who was on the other end of a video call. "She got her lawyers to convince them that since she's technically not a fairy anymore. As a human – which to be fair, for all intents and purposes she is – she's not subject to our laws, like another certain famous criminal mastermind we're all familiar with. Since we beat her, we're back to mindwiping her and letting her go."

"So you – and let me just get this clear, to make sure I didn't misunderstand the situation – had her mindwiped and introduced her into human society, correct?"

"They dumped her in Disneyland Paris without any money or ID," said Foaly defensively. "It's not like they set her up with a trust fund or something."

"Disregarding the fact that Opal's past self is still on the loose, and we have no idea where she might be, or whether or not she is still under the influence of the many magic-enhancing substances she was using?" Artemis continued, undeterred.

"Well, there's this warlock, Fungal, who put a lot of research into the whole time-traveling thing, and he says there's no evidence she's still survived. He had a presentation and everything on how she would have gotten sucked back into the time stream after seventy-two hours."

"And your council is actually prepared to accept a statement as ridiculous as that." Artemis tutted and shook his head.

"Let's not get into what the Council is prepared to accept right now," Holly said testily. "We need to focus on exactly what we're going to do next."

"What does the Council want us to do next?" asked Artemis arching an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" Holly fumed. "Just sit back and let her go. She counts as human now, so apparently we don't have jurisdiction over her! She's a vile murderer who should be rotting underground for the rest of her thousand-year life, and the People can't touch her because of their stupid rules!"

Artemis gave an unusually quiet cough. "If you don't intend to do anything about it, then why have you contacted me?"

Holly's fury settled into a look of surprisingly familiar menace. "Me, not doing anything about it?" she said, with unusually threatening sweetness. "Oh, Artemis. Whoever said I was planning on doing that?"

* * *

Minerva Paradizo did not like the new girl. There was something that was simply not right about her.

Maybe it was the way she'd just appeared out of nowhere. A transfer student in the middle of the year was unusual at most schools; at St. Agatha's, it was unheard of, especially in the case of a complete unknown, like this girl. Or maybe it was the way that the teachers and the other girls seemed to have that strange, almost worshipful, respect for her. The magisters were used to dealing with cunning, headstrong teenage girls, and the students themselves were so secure in their status that it would take a miracle to win them over that fast; even she was still proving herself worthy of her status at St. Agatha's.

Maybe, Minerva had to admit to herself, she disliked her simply for being smarter and prettier than she was.

But there was still something off about her. Those too-big eyes, that cunning smile. The fact that, even though she couldn't be more than fifteen or sixteen, she acted as though the other girls were children compared to her.

No, Minerva decided, she definitely did not like Belinda Lutin, and there was definitely a reason why.

* * *

So, an author's note. Not as much to comment on here, but yay, Minerva! Sure, I write pretty subtle A/H, but that doesn't mean I hate Minnie, and I want to let her be a cool, individual character. "Lutin" is, according to Babelfish, French for pixie, which is a little too obvious, but I like the sound of it. Also, I would just like to say that if it seems extremely uncharacteristic to let her go... maybe it is.


	2. Investigation

**Investigation**

"The first step," Artemis said grandly, as he opened his laptop and pulled up the web browser, "is to trace Opal Koboi's footsteps."

"We're not kindergarteners, Artemis," Holly told him. "We do know how to do an investigation."

Artemis didn't look pleased to have his lecture interrupted. "The point," he replied, "is that we know where Opal Koboi was."

"Two days ago! She could be anywhere by now!"

"Don't you have a tracer on her?" Artemis asked, casually hacking the LEP database.

"Not one I've got access to."

"Yeah, there's no point in looking for it," Foaly put in. The video call was still ongoing, but the centaur had been distracted by a variety of other tasks. "It's not online, and even I can't access it without permission from two superiors. They're paranoid that the demons or someone is going to violently murder her."

"Very well then." Artemis did not seem to think this would be a great loss. "We shall just have to engage in a little old-fashioned detective work." He switched to a Parisian newspaper's site. "There is no way that a teenage girl with amnesia is not going to make the newspaper. It will only take a little digging."

"Speaking of digging," said Foaly.

"Oh Frond, is that a segue," Holly groaned. "Let me guess. You're contacting Mulch."

"Well, yes," replied Foaly, sounding offended. "But you didn't have to take all the fun out of it. Anyways, I can probably get him here in five hours, or so."

"Eureka!" said Artemis suddenly. Holly and Foaly both gave him a strange look. He stared very hard at the computer, and tried not to blush. "I've found Opal," he explained. He pulled up the article. "That's certainly her. But this," he switched pages, "is a different matter." He swung his laptop around, looking smug. "Do either of you have any suspicions as to this Michelle's real identity? Because I think I might have a rather good idea of it."

"D'arvit," said Holly as soon as she finished skimming the second article. "It's Koboi from the past!"

The first step, Minerva decided, was to trace this Belinda's footprints. Nobody just sprang out of nowhere, especially not a child prodigy. She had to have won awards, applied for patents, or even just been on the news for learning how to read at two. After all, that's what Minerva had done.

But all her digging turned up nothing. Finally, Minerva was reduced to simply Googling the name, in desperate hope of getting a relevant hit. She scrolled fruitlessly past lists of references to unrelated people with the surname Lutin or the given name Belinda and the occasional _lutin_ that had been somehow tied to a Belinda. Hmm… hadn't that thing that had pretended to be Beau been called a pixie? She wondered idly if there was a relationship of some kind. It was unlikely; her luck would not be that good.

And then, finally, a hit! It was a French newspaper; slight difficulties had been had in finding it because the reference to a Belinda was in one article, and the name Lutin in the other. She read it quickly, and a look of confusion passed over her face.

It didn't make sense! The news story was about a girl who had been found in Disneyland Paris only the other day and yet she was clearly Belinda – there was a picture that gave quite a good likeness. It said that this Belinda was an amnesiac, who had been picked up the next day by her mother, Michelle Lutin. But Minerva had been in class with her on the first day. The second, admittedly, was a weekend, and it was possible she might have snuck out, but that still didn't explain how she had been a Parisian amnesiac and a Belgian schoolgirl at the same time.

What was up with the amnesia, anyways? It was definitely an odd situation. Maybe in a movie it wouldn't have attracted attention, but in real life? No, Something was definitely Up with that Belinda. _And I_, thought Minerva, as she deleted her browser history, _am going to find out what it is._

And if it suited her wish to prove herself cleverer than the other girl, well, who was Minerva to complain?

Artemis was making plans for their trip to France. "Are we traveling with you, or taking more conventional means?" he asked as he set out the French passports he and Butler used, and sorted through the papers he had printed out to find those which would be most useful.

"You've got to travel the Mud Man way, sorry. I've got my wings, but there's no way I can get a shuttle for you guys.

"That's no problem. I can arrange fairly speedy transport for Butler and me, and we have documents that will let us pass as locals."

"Illegally, of course," Holly put in sarcastically.

"Of course. I may be a reformed character, Holly, but that doesn't mean I don't want to take advantage of all the resources at my disposal. Especially in a situation such as this one."

"I suppose you're right," she said ruefully, noticing that Artemis seemed to be paying particular attention to her answer. It gave her an uneasy feeling that she had to work to put aside.

"Hey," said Foaly, interrupting the moment that had been gathering on the horizon, "I've got an update on Mulch. He might be a little later than we'd planned, but he's bringing some extra firepower."

"No. 1, of course," Artemis said, nodding in agreement. "What a stroke of good luck."

"And –" started Foaly, sounding irritated.

"It'll make getting Mulch to the surface easier, 'cuz nobody's going to stop the all-powerful warlock kid from going to see his friends," finished Holly.

"You know, I think for once I could be allowed to finish a sentence," the centaur grumbled. "I mean seriously. We all know Mud Boy's a genius, but since when did you get in on the act, Holly? I'm hurt."

"Maybe you're just getting predictable in your old age," Holly shot back, and returned to her conversation with Artemis. "You're bringing Butler, too, of course."

"Naturally. We already have established identities as Antoine Lamarre, the piano prodigy, and his father, Jacques. I'd offer you one, so as to save you the trouble of having to shield, but it would take a while we don't have to get the papers in order."

"Not a problem. I'm running hot, and we'll have No. 1 for magical backup if something does happen. It'd be a big help if you could grab me some Mud Girl clothes, though. Just in case."

"I do believe we have something that might work. Shall I do the same for No. 1, just as a precaution? My brothers' things should work for him."

"Nice idea. Hell, a couple of kids might make a nice disguise. After all, we are going to Disneyland."

"My thoughts exactly." The two smiled at each other as only co-conspirators could.

"Ugh. If the two of you start finishing each other's sentences, I'm going to gag," said Foaly. Artemis quirked his eyebrows at him; Holly just groaned and rolled her eyes.

Butler was less enthusiastic about his charge's plans. The last encounter with Koboi had been a nightmare, and he wasn't looking forward to repeating the incident. And there were other difficulties as well. True, Artemis seemed confident, and perfectly healthy, but the bodyguard couldn't help wondering if he was as stable as he seemed. Still, he packed their bags, and began to prepare for the trip to Paris. Artemis had convinced his parents that he would be visiting the Louvre for a school project, and had thus gotten permission for the jet.

They were preparing to depart, when Holly came up to Artemis, holding a miniature case. "Iris cam," she explained. "So we can see what's going on with you. It's hazel, but it'll match you now."

"Thank you," replied Artemis. He carefully inserted it into his blue eye. "To stop myself standing out so much," he said. Holly nodded.

"See you in Paris, Mud Boy," she told him flippantly, giving him a grin.

"Yes, of course," he responded. A gesture from Butler encouraged him to board the jet, but his eyes lingered on Holly's retreating form a few seconds longer than was necessary.

"Be careful there," Butler commented quietly.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "What are you implying? That I am behaving inappropriately towards Holly?"

"The last time you lied to her, it didn't work out so well. And you've got a lot bigger secret to hide this time."

Artemis frowned. "I can manage," he said shortly, and stared out the window in silence for the rest of the flight.


	3. Recon Work

**Recon Work**

Artemis felt rather relieved when they were finally in Paris – it gave him an excuse for something other than introspection. He and Butler were waiting at a small café, nearly abandoned in the late afternoon, awaiting the arrival of the others. Artemis was engrossed in planning their next move, when he heard a young boy's voice saying, "Artemis! Butler! It's great to see you again."

Artemis spun around, surprised and slightly bemused by the sight he saw. Easily identifiable was the extremely short bearded man wearing a trench coat, oversized hat, and extremely pungent sun block; rather less so was the boy of about five who bore a striking resemblance to Artemis himself.

"Mulch, No. 1," he said, quickly gathering his cool. "Glad that you can join us. I assume Holly is also with you?"

"Yep," Mulch said, sitting down and cheerfully examining the menu. A nearby shimmer in the air moved up and down, as if in agreement.

"Do you like my disguise?" asked No. 1. "I tried to make it look like you, in case I had to pretend to be your little brother or something."

"Very convincing," the boy said, spreading out his plans so everyone can see them. "My plan is thus; we will break into two groups. The first, consisting of Butler and I, will go to the police agency where Koboi picked herself up from, and see what information we can gather there. The second, Holly and No. 1 will enter the park itself – I assume you have some less traditional methods of doing that, Holly – and enact a little backup plan of mine."

"What about me?" Mulch asked. "What am I supposed to do, sit here and twiddle my thumbs? Sample some fabulous French cuisine? Maybe find a beach to drink coffee on?"

Artemis gave him a calculating look. "I hardly think that, in your current getup, you would be able to blend in either place. You have a distinctly shady look the police will catch onto in a second, and I believe Disneyland is rather sensitive about the presence of suspicious individuals in trench coats."

"Ah well," Mulch said, his voice heavy with false regret, "I suppose I'll just have to wait here, then. I hope you don't mind if I get something to eat."

"Very well," said Artemis. "Do your best not to buy out their entire kitchen, though. It would be terribly inconvenient for them." With that parting remark, the group split up for their individual tasks.

* * *

Holly sighed. No. 1 was fun and cheerful, there was no doubting that, but sometimes she wished he was a little less exuberant. Right now, for example, he seemed more interested in taking advantage of his disguise than actually doing their job. Sure, it was his first visit to Disneyland, but they had more important things to do than ride roller coasters or tour a pirate ship.

"Ooh," he said to her, pointing at what appeared to be an abandoned hotel. One of the distinct advantages to Disneyland was that she didn't have to waste magic on shielding. "After we do this, can we ride the Tower of Terror?"

"I don't think so," Holly said wearily. "We really need to find Opal, remember?"

"I know…" the little warlock said. "Oh, wait. Here, this is the spot where they left her." He pointed out an area only just past a sign reading "Employés Seulement".

"Perfect," said Holly, and pulled out the tracker ball that Foaly had given her. With the press of a trigger on her end, it would burst, releasing microbes that would seek out the nearest living being and be absorbed into their skin, all the while broadcasting a unique signal. Opal had already been sprayed once, but this time, they would have access to the data.

She set the tracker on the ground, and No. 1 spread his arms, preparing to open a portal in time. That was the simple elegance of the plan – they would be able to find Opal in the present by placing a tracker on her in the past. Just as the tracker was about to go through, Holly pressed the trigger. There was a slight _schnick_, a yellow cloud appeared for an instance, and then, it vanished. "Nice job," Holly said, and the two of them headed for a way out.

* * *

So far, Adrien Garennier had had a fairly boring day. True, another reporter had wanted to ask him questions about the Lutin girl, but there really wasn't much more to say. She had gotten separated from her older sister at Disneyland, and suffered a concussion of some kind, it seemed. At least, he distinctly remembered that happening, though he wasn't quite sure where from.

The officer's introspection on the puzzling nature of the case was interrupted by the presence of two people, a scrawny teenage boy accompanied by the largest man he had ever seen in his life. "May I help you?" Adrien asked nervously as he watched the man, desperately hoping that he was not a criminal of some kind.

"Could you share some information with me about Miss Belinda Lutin?" the boy asked mildly.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking properly at him for the first time, "but I can't just share that information with anyone…" He trailed off. There was something entrancing about the boy's wide, hazel eyes that made it hard to look away.

"_Are you sure, Officer? I'm sure there won't be any problem if you let me look at your file on the case,_" he said, and Adrien found himself forced to agree. Of course there wouldn't be a problem. How could there be, if the boy didn't think there would be? Such a lovely voice he had, too, like a whole choir of angels at once.

"No problem, of course," he said aloud, dazed. "Let me go get that for you."

The boy gave a smile more suited to a vampire than an angel. "_Thank you, Officer. Oh, and I think it would be best if after we leave, you have no memory of us being here._"

Five minutes later, Artemis and Butler left the police station to rendezvous back at the café, Artemis' thumb drive containing all the information the police had on Belinda Lutin. Butler turned off the device that had disabled the cameras. "Was that really necessary?" he asked.

"What do you mean, was that necessary? It was by far the easiest and most efficient way to get the information out of him. True, I likely could have convinced him to give it up anyways, but this way was guaranteed to work, and there won't even be any evidence we were there."

Butler had to admit, Artemis was right, as usual. But there was still something worrisome about the amount of pleasure he'd seemed to have gotten from _mesmerizing_ the police officer. And there was something else wrong with the picture, too, something unsettling and almost inhuman about Artemis when he had used the _mesmer_. Perhaps it was just the bad experience Butler had had with the technique in the past, but he was beginning to wonder if magic was really good for Artemis.

* * *

"So how did it go?" asked Holly when they met up again. "We've got a tracker on Koboi, how about you?"

"Very well," Artemis said smugly, holding up the thumb drive. "This is all the info the police have on them."

"The officer found Artemis very charming," Butler commented dryly, and Holly gave him a look. It was a very strange remark, especially from Butler. Was he joking, or was there something else he was trying to say. Artemis' only response was to roll his eyes.

"I've been doing very well too, thank you," said Mulch. "Foaly called, actually. He says they've got footage of Koboi on the news. It's disgusting – she looks completely human."

Artemis harrumphed quietly. "Anyways, we have several pictures of her now as well, and quite a bit of data on her next move. Also, there's no sign that she has any memory of her past. She was described as quiet, unsure, and obliging – certainly nothing like the Opal we know. Hopefully, recall has been prevented, and one of them, at least, will be without her knowledge of the fairy world."

"Nice data, but we've got something even better," said Holly. "Her location. It says here she's somewhere in Belgium – some type of school, I think. We ran the coordinates through to Foaly."

Artemis looked at the name and frowned. "St. Agatha's Academy for Unusually Gifted Girls. Why does that name sound familiar."

"Minerva goes there," said Butler. "And if Opal's there, too… God only knows what kind of trouble could go on between them."

* * *

One of my favorite chapters to write, because I got to research Disneyland Paris. No Minerva in this one, but she'll be the main focus in the next.


End file.
